Veitch Penny Solicitors

Legal Updates

A father who claims that serious injuries suffered by his baby son were caused by a fall from his bouncy chair has been denied permission by the Court of Appeal to present a leading biomechanical engineering expert’s evidence in support of his case.

Two brothers were denied their rightful inheritance after their frail step-mother was pressured into changing her will by a relative, the High Court has ruled. The 75-year-old widow’s free will had been ‘worn down’ by her brother-in-law who had exerted undue influence upon her.

An employees’ remuneration trust (ERT) established for the benefit of executives, football players and their families was in principle effective to avoid PAYE and NIC liabilities and, ultimately, to reduce inheritance tax, the First-Tier Tribunal has ruled.

The niece and nephew of a wealthy restaurant owner have fought off a bid by his 90-year-old sister to strip them of their share of his £4 million fortune. In a case which raised important issues regarding domicile and conflicts between English and Italian law, the Court of Appeal ruled that Piero Curati’s English will remained valid at the date of his death.

Europe’s largest cemetery has been awarded to the partner of a deceased businessman after the Court of Appeal ruled that she and the child they had together are entitled to reasonable provision from his estate.

A dozen years after a businessman's death, his principal beneficitary is facing a stinging inheritance tax bill after losing a marathon dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The first-tier tribunal accepted that HMRC’s calculations were correct in law and that the deductions sought by the taxpayer were rightly disallowed.

Where parties of full age and capacity executed a declaration of trust stating that a residential property was owned by them in equal shares as tenants in common, the burden of proving that the document was ‘a sham’ and did not reflect the parties’ true intentions was a heavy one, the Court of Appeal has ruled.